The Monsieur Lecoq Series

Set primarily in a series of small towns on the Seine that are now suburbs of Paris, The Mystery of Orcival revolves around a love triangle consisting of the wealthy Clement Sauvresy; his beautiful but modestly born wife, Bertha; and his old college friend, Count Hector de Tremorel. Stricken with a sudden illness, Sauvresy begs the other two to marry after his death, which they do. The couple live happily until the body of the Countess is found floating in the Seine by a poacher named Bertaud and, a short time later, the Count’s body is also found.

In Monsieur Lecoq, two men are found dead at a bar in a seedy area of Paris, and a third man, wounded, stands in the doorway and dies shortly afterwards. To the Inspector of Police, the case seems straightforward – a pub brawl that ended in murder – but Lecoq is unconvinced and is permitted to investigate further with the help of an older officer, Father Absinthe. In the course of his investigations – which take an ever-tortuous direction – Lecoq is assisted by the ‘armchair’ detective Tabaret.